Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin’s surprise promotion to No. 5 paid off in Rajasthan Royals’ clash against Delhi Capitals today (March 28) at Jaipur.

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The Royals were in dire straits early on in their innings, stumbling to 36-3 in the eighth over when Jos Buttler departed lbw for a 16-ball 11 off Kuldeep Yadav’s bowling.

In walked Ashwin, who was promoted up two spots from No. 7 – a move the Royals have made on occasion in the past. He initially started slowly, taking five runs from his first six deliveries at the crease.

That was before he quickly raced through the gears. His first shot in anger came off Kuldeep’s wrist-spin, as Ashwin deposited his India teammate into the stands for an overdue six for the hosts. Ashwin knocked the following delivery down the ground to retain strike for the next over.

The following over – the 11th over of the innings – was delivered by the South African quick Anrich Nortje. Ashwin greeted Nortje’s return to the attack by hitting him for his second six in three balls, another blow that cleared the mid-wicket boundary. Three balls later Ashwin struck his third six with arguably the best shot of the lot, pulling Nortje over the leg-side boundary.

Ashwin was eventually dismissed for 29 off 19 deliveries with the Royals innings stabilised. Remarkably, the Royals finished on 185-5 with Riyan Parag finishing unbeaten on 84 off 45 deliveries.

You can watch R Ashwin hit three sixes in quick succession below:

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